Abstract

The article addresses the implications of Prevent and Channel for epistemic
justice. The first section outlines the background of Prevent. It draws upon
Moira Gatens and Genevieve Lloyd’s concept of the collective imaginary,
alongside Lorraine Code’s concept of epistemologies of mastery, in order
to outline some of the images and imaginaries that inform and orient
contemporary counter-terrorist preventative initiatives, in particular those
affecting education. Of interest here is the way in which vulnerability (to
radicalisation) is conceptualised in Prevent and Channel, in particular the
way in which those deemed ‘at risk of radicalisation’ are constituted as
vulnerable and requiring intervention. The imaginary underpinning such
preventative initiatives is, I argue, a therapeutic/epidemiological one. If
attention is paid to the language associated with these interventions,
one finds reference to terms such as contagion, immunity, resilience,
grooming, virus, susceptibility, therapy, autonomy, vulnerability and
risk—a constellation of images/concepts resonant with therapeutic and
epidemiological theories and practices. I outline some of the implications of
this therapeutic/epidemiological imaginary for epistemic injustice. If people,
in this case, students, teachers and parents, feel that their voice will not be
given credence, this leads to testimonial injustice. If one group is constituted
as a suspect community, this risks hermeneutical injustice for that group—a
situation facing Muslims at present. Given the requirements for educators
and educational institutions to enact this particular iteration of preventative
counter-terrorist legislation, the way in which vulnerability (to radicalisation)
is understood and operationalised has direct bearing upon education and
the educational experience of all stakeholders, in particular in relation to the
conditions for epistemic justice.